The Texas Supreme Court has propagated a new Rule to codify rules about when a zoom hearing can be authorized.  When COVID began, the Texas Supreme had authorized zoom hearing by a series of emergency orders.  The new rule in short allows the parties to agree to a...

Beginning February 1, 2023, all Travis County Family Law Cases will return to in person hearings.  Since March 2020, Travis County has been operating almost all hearings on the zoom platform.  Initially this was in response to the COVID pandemic, but continued due to...

The standard possession order allows parents to agree to alternate periods of possession if they reach an agreement.  That's common sense.  When parents do not agree it's sometimes suggested that a therapist, the child, or some other third party dictate what the...

A common request from clients is to make the other side stop disparaging them online or to people in their social circle.  In light of what is often posted this is not an unreasonable request, but it runs counter to constitutional rights of free speech.   An...

September 1 is the usual starting date to new laws.  The legislature has made changes to the code and this is series of posts that addresses some of the new changes.   First up, the code in TFC Sec. 156.106 now allows the Court to consider the death of parent as...

With the pandemic causing fluctuations in child support, the issue of income averaging has been a more frequent issue.  Below are some cases that address this in addition to a portion of the family code that provides guidance. When a trial court is presented with a...

One of the most common questions new client’s ask is "Can I start dating now that I have filed?" My usual response is that’s not going to preclude the other side from bringing it up, involving your new relationship in the suit, or alleging it’s been going on prior to...

Here's another case that shows you always need to present some evidence at a default judgment, this time for child support. The case is In re R.G.A.C.L.G., No. 05-19-00846-CV, 2020 WL 4281953 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2020, no pet. h.) (mem. op.) (07-27-20). During the...

Here's a case about always proof reading a decree carefully, and not pressing send on ill-advised e-mails. In Gates v. Gates, No. 11-18-00139-CV, 2020 WL 3635241 (Tex. App.—Eastland 2020, no pet. h.) (mem. op.) (06-30-20), a decree was entered years earlier which...

The Texas Family Code allows for a Court to award spousal support (also known as maintenance) based on the disability of a spouse.  Disability is not explicitly defined and based on our experience often subjective. The Fort Worth Court of Appeal rendered an opinion...

Good News. Since the Court’s began remote hearings for divorce and child custody hearings each District Court and the Associate Judge’s Court had differing remote procedures. Since lawyers were often not receiving notice of which Court a case was assigned to until...